Reviewing the Situation
by Twisted Mind of a Spy
Summary: Jack reflects on his life and relationships with Irina, Laura, Arvin, and Sydney. Companion to Innocence. Spoilers for Season Finale Season 2


Reviewing the Situation  
  
I consider myself to be an intelligent man. After all, I was recruited right out of high school to join the CIA at the age of 18 years old. I am considered to be the best in the field of game theory. I am a strategist; I can anticipate the moves of a terrorist before he knows what he is going to do. Yet, when it came to my personal life, I failed and allowed myself to be deceived. The day I met Laura was the day that everything would be forever changed. Not just for me, or for her; but for our children as well. Laura was irresistible; she had me from the day we first met. I allowed myself to open up to her and I gave her my heart. But it was later that I learned that it was a sick joke. She was a Russian, the enemy. But as Laura Bristow my wife, I loved her more than any other person on this earth. She completed me in a way that I never knew I needed to be completed. Laura was full of fire and passion, she loved life and me. She bore my daughter, Sydney. My beautiful little girl who loved me more than anything else in the world and I loved her. I would have moved heaven and hell just for her. We were happy. We were a family. And then we weren't, just like that. Laura was gone and I was left to raise Sydney alone.  
  
When I was told that my beautiful wife Laura Bristow was actually a KGB agent named Irina Derevko, I refused to believe them. I sat in solitary confinement away from my precious little girl for 6 months. During that time, I reviewed the situation. I sat in that room and reviewed every aspect of my 10 years with Laura, but I found nothing. A flawless performance by a wonderful actress, the Academy would give Irina Derevko for her performance as a seemingly loving wife and mother. I loath that woman with every fiber of my being, she disgusts me. She managed to worm her way back into my daughter's heart only to hurt her over and over again. She made me want her until I could think of nothing else but her. The way Irina Derevko moved, smelled, tasted, felt. I wanted her that night in Panama. I knew she was going to betray me. I needed her. She needed me. I loved Laura Bristow. But Laura Bristow was an illusion. Irina Derevko is tangible; she is Laura and so much more. I love her and she loves me. I have tried to annul our "marriage" so many times but I can't. I didn't do it for Sydney or Danielle. I did it because I love her.  
  
That night in Panama, our one night together we made love. We didn't fuck, we didn't screw, we didn't have sex, we made love. Both of us knew what lay ahead when dawn came. I held no illusions about what was going to happen and neither did she. As long as Arvin Sloane was a threat to our children and us we couldn't be together. It was my turn to put on my Academy Award winning performance. I had to be the angry lover, the betrayed one. But it was all an act.  
  
I spent most of Sydney's life pushing her away and when she joined this life our healing process began. We became bonded in a way that Arvin Sloane can never break. Sydney and I don't have what is called a traditional father-daughter relationship because we were wounded and our healing process was slow. When Irina turned herself in, it seemed that our wounds were ripped open again. But along came Danielle, my little Danielle was wounded too. But despite that she knew how to love. She loved her mother very much and Irina loved her. I was not prepared to have a teenager in my house. She was 16 when she moved in with me, well mannered and shy. She grew up in France, but her English is perfect. She speaks Russian, Spanish, Greek, Latin, and Italian. She is a ballet dancer; she is tall and thin like her mother and her sister. She has long, dark hair, and brown eyes. Her mind works like mine, she is an intellectual, but she is athletic. She is the missing link. I love both of my children and I will move heaven and hell for them.  
  
Alexander Khasinau had neglected Danielle. He didn't love her, he used her, and he gave her to Arvin Sloane without Irina's consent. Sloane had her trained from the time she was 14 and when I met her, she was a premier agent like her sister, like me, and like her mother. When Irina found out about Danielle being trained it was too late. So when Irina turned herself in, Danielle came to me. I told her the truth, she processed it, and she moved in with me. She calls me "daddy", not "dad", or "father", but daddy. She says that she called Khasinau "father" and to her I am her daddy. I'm fine with that. I put her in a private school that had a dance program. When she lived in Paris, she was a chorus girl in the ballet there. The teacher at the school used to teach at the Los Angeles Ballet. Danielle was not a chorus girl according to her. She was a star.  
  
Sydney had been hurt, just like I had been when "Laura" died all those years ago. But when SD-6 fell and she got together with Agent Vaughn I was glad. Now granted, I didn't approve of a working and personal relationship. But I am her father; if it were up to me I would probably never let her date. But she was happy and that was all I wanted.  
  
Arvin Sloane and I have known each other for 30 years. He was my best friend and he loved Emily. When he left the CIA, I understood why, but I was too loyal to the United States even after all the CIA put me through. I joined SD-6 and I watched him become tainted by evil. I was sickened by it. I hated that the man who I adored had become tainted by evil. But what I hated even more is that Emily had to watch it too. Emily Sloane was a saint; she loved Arvin no matter what he did. She knew what was going on, but she still saw the good in Arvin. She was the closest thing to a mother that Sydney ever had. She helped me when "Laura" died and then she was killed by her husband's life. Now Arvin is a sad and bitter man, like I was once. He is angry with my family and will stop at nothing until we are dead. Now he must die. No matter how close our relationship once was, he tried to kill Sydney and Danielle. He tried to harm my children and now he must die.  
  
Sydney has been missing now for 8 weeks. Arvin had something to do with her disappearance. He had Dr. Markavik manipulate Alison Doren's genes and killed my daughter's best friend. The night Sydney disappeared was the night Irina left. She has been gone ever since gone back into her network of contacts. She is on the hunt, like a lioness on the prowl. She will kill Arvin if she gets the chance because he hurt our children. Sydney's disappearance was devastating to us both as well as for Danielle. Those first few weeks were hard and the last since haven't been easy either, but Danielle is my strength.  
  
I wasn't going to come tonight because I wanted to follow up on leads in the search for Sydney. But Danielle really wanted me to come, so I caved in and came. She has me wrapped around her little finger, but I don't mind. As I watch her dance, I see her come alive for the first time in 8 weeks. But as she leaps into the air, time stops. I watch as bright red bloodstains appear on her beautiful white costume, her face contorts into shock. She falls back and there are screams. I rush up on stage and look up into the rafters. Her assailant is gone. I rush to my daughter, she looks at me as I kneel down and pull her into my arms. Her skin is pale; she has two gaping holes in her chest and abdomen. I silently pray that the bullets didn't hit any major organs. Danielle has gone into shock, but she manages to stay with me until help arrives before losing consciousness. Her last words were "I love you daddy."  
  
Now I am sitting in my daughter's hospital room. She is expected to make a full recovery. I feel as if a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. But now as I sit next to her bedside holding her hand, I am reviewing the situation. I have reviewed the situation for too long. Now it is time to take action. Now the war begins. 


End file.
